Taco trucks on every corner

Not to pile in on the controversy du jour but I find it a little weird that no one mentions the time in 2007 the Jefferson Parish Council decided to make themselves great again.

The Jefferson Parish Council today approved tighter regulations for vendors selling food from temporary stands or vehicles, effectively stopping the taqueria trucks that arrived after Hurricane Katrina from operating in their current form.

The new rules, which go into force in 10 days, bar food trucks from areas along many major streets in Jefferson Parish, limiting them to heavy commercial and industrial zones. And the rules require vendors to provide permanent restrooms, which typically are not available at the trucks that sell Latin American food to workers who came to the New Orleans area for Katrina rebuilding jobs.

Parish Councilman Louis Congemi proposed the crackdown, saying that the vendors clutter parish streets, that they pose safety and health risks and that they are mobile, fleeting operations that don't show any commitment to doing permanent business in Jefferson Parish. He said banning them is in keeping with other parish efforts to clear away signs of Katrina, such as travel trailers, storage units and blighted houses.